Athens, Ga. – University of Georgia counseling professor Diane L. Cooper has been selected as a member of the American College Personnel Association Diamond Honoree Class of 2008 by the ACPA Educational Leadership Foundation.
Cooper, who is coordinator of UGA’s master’s degree program in college student affairs administration, is one of 15 Diamond Honorees from across the country being recognized this year. She has received numerous awards for her teaching and scholarship including the Outstanding Contributions to Student Affairs through Teaching Award from the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA) in 2004 and the Melvene Draheim Hardee Award from the Southern Association of College Student Affairs in 2000.
Cooper, a faculty member in the College of Education’s department of counseling and human development services, is the author or co-author of numerous books including Identity Development of Diverse Populations: Implications for Teaching and Practice in Higher Education (2004), Learning Through Supervised Practice in Student Affairs (2003), and a widely used New Directions Series monograph titled Beyond Law and Policy: Reaffirming the Role of Student Affairs and Assessment Instruments which includes the Student Developmental Task and Lifestyle Assessment (1999, written with UGA professors emeriti Theodore K. Miller and Roger B. Winston Jr.).
In addition, she has authored 15 book chapters and numerous journal articles. Her research focuses on program design and assessment, legal and ethical issues in student affairs practice and professional issues related to underrepresented groups in higher education.
Before joining the UGA faculty in 1996, Cooper was a faculty member in student development at Appalachian State University for four years. Prior to that, she served for eight years as a student affairs practitioner at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
Cooper received her Ph.D. in counselor education from the University of Iowa in 1985 with a concentration in post-secondary education and vocational development.
